Leveraging Printer Infrastructure to Reap the Benefits of Converging Technologies

“When technology rolls over you, if you’re not part of the steamroller, you’re part of the road,” said the American writer and editor Stewart Brand. When Wal-Mart issued its famous RFID mandate in 2003, many manufacturers thought they were being steamrolled; pundits saw the mandate as the death knell of barcode technology. Neither the fear nor the forecast has proved accurate.

First, the mandate did not result in a rapid torrent of RFID adoption. Deadlines associated with the mandate have been extended several times because many vendors faced significant difficulties implementing RFID systems, including the relative cost of implementation. The Wall Street Journal published an article stating that the RFID plan set forth by Wal-Mart was “showing signs of fizzling” due to a lack of progress by their executives to introduce the technology to its stores and to the lack of incentives for suppliers.No one was being steamrolled.

Datamax-O’Neil Begins Shipping the E-Class Mark III Professional Series Printers

Datamax-O’Neil, a global provider of industrial grade label and receipt printing solutions, announces that it has begun shipping the E-Class Mark III Professional Series printers and that the product is in-stock at major distribution partners. The E-Class Mark III Professional offers the highest level of functionality at an affordable price, and is ideal for businesses with sophisticated applications and more complex printing requirements.

Wasp Barcode Technologies announced the launch of the WLR8950 Bi-Color CCD Scanner. The WLR8950 is the newest barcode scanner providing improved accuracy with bi-color technology by using two LED light sources to decode barcodes printed in various colors. The WLR8950 also delivers flexible, long range scanning paired with lightweight, durable construction.

The bi-color technology enables the WLR8950 to automatically change its light source between red and green to decode barcodes printed in various colors. And the green LED light specifically works to increase the accuracy in reading poorly printed barcode labels. The WLR8950 can easily read barcodes up to 12” away due to its long range scan engine. And with the high-quality ABS plastic construction and pistol grip design, the scanner is comfortable to use in any environment.

Information and documentation are essential components of everything that manufacturers produce and ship today, whether products need to be tracked through the production process or through the supply chain to the customer. Customer requests, regulatory requirements and efficient production processes all need information to flow along with products. While production is often automated, producing the necessary documentation often is not optimized.

Producing the job tickets, component ID and product labels to provide this information is a growing challenge. Unless the process is streamlined with a proper printer and media, manufacturers are building unnecessary cost and inefficiency into every product. This post will explain how manufacturers can realize tangible improvement. It covers:

How production processes can be improved by using printed labels and job tickets;

Why sharing a general-purpose printer for office and production printing is an inefficient arrangement;

Misperceptions about 2D imagers are changing fast, which is why 2D imagers are the fastest-growing category of bar code readers. Only a few years ago 2D imagers were (wrongly) considered a niche technology mostly used for reading 2D bar codes. Now they are becoming the technology of choice for most bar code applications, and lasers are on the way to becoming a niche technology. The reasons: 2D imagers are as fast or faster than laser scanners, can read all the same bar codes as lasers plus 2D symbols that lasers can’t, and can do much more.

Not only can 2D imagers read more bar codes than lasers – including QR Codes, Data Matrix and other popular 2D symbols – they can also do more than read bar codes. Imagers can take digital pictures, shoot video, capture customer signatures, scan documents and even process the scanned data. These capabilities, which are outlined in the graphic below, enable new business processes that are not possible with older-generation technology. In an era where workers are tasked with doing more – collecting more information, providing more documentation, being more productive, etc. – 2D imagers provide more flexibility.

2D imaging technology gives businesses the two things they need most from their bar code readers: outstanding performance in today’s applications, and investment protection to meet future needs. This white paper is a guide to 2D bar code imaging technology, including an overview of capabilities and how 2D imagers perform in traditional applications, the beneficial new business processes that imaging enables, and the advantages 2D imaging provides compared to laser scanners.

Enable you mobile workforce in any application!

The Unitech PA690 is a rugged outside-the-four-walls device designed to empower your mobile workforce in today’s competitive business environment. With multiple data collection options and a comprehensive wireless platform, the PA690 is mobility at its best.

Intermec, Inc just released their new PM43 and PM43c industrial mid-range label printers, featuring the fastest throughput in their class. Suited for harsh industrial environments including transportation, manufacturing and distribution centers, the metal-constructed PM43 and more compact PM43c printers are built to perform by increasing uptime and reducing maintenance costs.

Built on more than 40 years of printing innovation history, the PM43 and PM43c mark the newest additions to Intermec’s industry leading line of rugged industrial printers. The printers offer the ultimate in reliable and intuitive communication options with a unique full color touch-screen, featuring a choice of 10 languages or easy to use universal icons, and a multi-lingual intuitive web-based user interface. The printers also reduce IT support needs with integrated device management, allowing the printers to be monitored from anywhere in the world via Intermec handheld computers, laptops, smart phones or tablet computers using WiFi or Ethernet connection.

The New Optimus 5900 RFID Mobile Computer

The Optimus 5900 RFID is a versatile, light industrial mobile computer designed to deliver the benefits of radio frequency identification (RFID) and automated data collection for retail and supply chain enterprises. Providing quick and accurate reading of EPC Gen2 and ISO 18000-6B RFID tags, the Optimus 5900 RFID improves visibility of item-level inventory, helping retailers reduce item out of stocks and merchandise shrink, leading to increased sales and reduced operating costs. The benefits of RFID-based inventory management also extend to warehousing and distribution operations, offering fast and accurate tracking of products from delivery to point of sale.

The lightweight yet rugged mobile computer features an ergonomic form factor for ease of use over an extended period of time and comes complete with a crisp 3.5-inch screen, resistive touch panel and 28-key keyboard for accurate data entry. Integrated Adaptus Imaging Technology 5.0 provides advanced image-based data capture capabilities, allowing workers to perform all inventory management and mobile computing tasks on a single device.

The Unitech HT630 was designed to meet the demands of a wide range of applications in a compact, rugged device. It offers high performance and flexible functionality at an affordable price. With an integrated laser or CCD barcode scanner, it supports all common 1D barcode symbologies. Its multiple memoryconfigurations ensure support for the most resource intensive data capture applications.